EUGENE - The poor, wooden platypus sat this week in Oregon State's alumni hall, an insult to the alleged traveling trophy, considering Oregon won last year's Civil War 65-38.

And the platypus has little hope of gaining a more prominent stature because the man in charge at Oregon -- the man most responsible for those 65 points -- has no time for trophies.

"I don't care about traveling trophies, I just want to win the game," Kelly said. "I don't need a trophy to tell me whether we won or lost."

There aren't any trophies in Kelly's office -- just Kelly poring over video on a huge screen and various books and reams of football statistics. This week, he has been figuring out how to hang another 65 points on Oregon State tonight, although a 3-2 win and a trip to the Rose Bowl would suit him just fine.

There aren't any bowl rings on Kelly's fingers, either.

"I'm not a big jewelry guy," he said. "I don't know if they're out of the box yet. I see 'em when they give 'em to us, say, 'That's great,' and that's it. I've always been a guy that looks forward. To me, those are just past memories."

That's in keeping with his tried-and-true approach to football since taking over as head coach this spring after two years as offensive coordinator. Kelly consistently has refused to talk about things in the future, things in the past, hypothetical things, things related to LeGarrette Blount, things having to do with making out checks to fans and injured things.

Understanding his business-like approach is key to understanding how a team can go from the depths of Boise to the brink of the Rose Bowl in one season.

His method has worked, and worked very well.

To verify whether Kelly always has been about the task at hand and nothing else, listen to New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell, under whom Kelly worked with the Wildcats.

"I know that mantra is getting a little frustrating for you guys out there," McDonnell said. "But that's the way it's always been here.

"As important as it was to beat Maine, he was as steadfast about staying the course as he is now with Oregon State."

Traveling trophy

When Kelly was up for the job at Oregon, he boned up on Ducks tradition and rivalries. He and McDonnell went over the schedule. Kelly would point to USC and say "that's their UMass" (they always get the best players), and point to Oregon State and say, "that's Maine" (the biggest rival).

Kelly hasn't said a bad word about Oregon State, refusing to get caught up in any rivalry hype. Was it that way with the Black Bears?

"Oh, we didn't like Maine at all -- we still don't," McDonnell said.

There was one thing, though, that would get Kelly worked up about Maine: The Brice-Cowell Musket. It's a flintlock rifle that predates the U.S. Civil War, named after Fred Brice and William Cowell, former coaches at Maine and New Hampshire, respectively. The musket is the traveling trophy awarded to the victor of the annual game between the Black Bears and Wildcats.

"Get the gun," Kelly was known to shout in the New Hampshire locker room, "let's hunt some black bear!"

In 2003, Kelly became so enamored of the "gun" that he had a spot in the locker room dedicated to it. If New Hampshire won the gun, it would go on display as an ever-present reminder.

The Wildcats haven't lost to Maine since.

"We have a trophy -- what is it, a platypus?" Kelly said. "Didn't they lose it for a while, I heard?"

Yes, these are relatively high-profile days for the forgotten platypus. In 1962, it was stolen, lost for 40 years, then found in a storage closet at McArthur Court.

Kelly may or may not find a more permanent home for the platypus, but he hasn't mentioned the thing to his players.

"He actually hasn't brought that up," linebacker Casey Matthews said.

Strictly business

Objects of inspiration are not new to Oregon's locker room. Former coach Mike Bellotti wielded a sledgehammer during halftime, destroying objects related to the opponent to get everybody fired up. But Kelly has remained strictly business in his first season as head coach.

"He's very business as usual when he meets with us and talks with us," offensive lineman Mark Asper said. "It's not like a separation or a distance like he doesn't care or he's unfriendly with us or anything.

"Before every practice: 'Time to go to work.' He makes it clear this is work. He has it painted on the doors going into the locker room: What happens here, stays here. Focus and dial in."

Will Tukuafu, the team's elder statesman, says the businesslike approach has worked.

"You come here, you go to work," Tukuafu said. "When you don't need to be here, don't be here. Go home, have a good balance in your life, go enjoy your family and friends. But when you step here on the facilities, understand that it's business time. When you step on the practice field, it's time to take care of business.

"There's a fine line (between) having fun and also taking care of business. And I think they've really instilled that in us. It goes a long ways to how we practice and perform on the weekends."

Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who appeared thoroughly frustrated at Boise State, said he bought in to Kelly's focused approach at that most unlikely time.

"He told us that right after the Boise game," Masoli said. "It was a little difficult to proceed after that, just because how heartbroken we were after that. We all stuck together as a team and leaned on each other.

"I was just trying to buy in and think about the next game we had. We have come a long way, and we've achieved this position through hard work, but it doesn't mean that much because our goal is the Rose Bowl and the Pac-10 championship."

Spoken like a true Kelly quarterback.

"For all the scrutiny and all the events that have been happening around here, he's definitely taken the team to another level," Masoli said. "You just can't give him enough credit for that."

Offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, who has to buy into it, too -- given that Kelly is the one calling the plays -- says it's all about consistency.

"The key to it, whether it was 42-3 against Cal or the Boise situation, it was the same," Helfrich said. "The consistency of message, the consistency of expectations, the consistency of demands -- our guys have hook, line and sinker bit into it."

Man of mystery

Kelly keeps his private life private, even from his players. Asper said he doesn't know much about Kelly off the field.

"Not a lot," said Asper, who knows where Kelly has coached, and little else. "I think that's part of his mastermind mentality, keep us kind of in the dark and mysterious. You never know what he's going to do. I haven't had a lot of down time to try to dig up an FBI file on him."

Kelly does have family: His parents have stayed in Oregon since late September, doing a little traveling and enjoying their retirement. They didn't intend to stay this long, but the Ducks kept winning. They plan to head back to New England after the Civil War, and in a rare moment of superstition, Kelly said he might ask them to change their travel plans again.

"We win again, maybe I won't let 'em go home," Kelly said.

Back in New Hampshire, coach McDonnell is busy game-planning for Villanova, Saturday's opponent in the Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinals.

So was there any point in his 13-year New Hampshire coaching career when Kelly, a record-setting offensive coordinator there, took a step back and savored success? Even at the end of a season?